With the list of unofficial rule threads starting to grow, I asked Mongoose and ADB for permission to add my own ideas to the mix; and with their approval, I'm setting up this, an unoffical rule discussion for a setting which I'm quite a fan of: the wild and warlike Omega Octant.

(The above pic is based on the cover art for Star Fleet Battles Module Omega 5; showing gunboat flotillas from two Omega empires, the Mæsron Alliance and Koligahr Solidarity, attempting to give an Andromedan Dominator a bad day at the office. Note that while the above units are all present and accounted for in SFB, the Koligahr have yet to be offered for playtest in Federation Commander, while no Omega gunboats have been ported over to FC at all; still, the pic above should at least offer a glimpse at what the Omega setting has to offer.)

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On the political map of the Milky Way (as seen in the SFU), the galaxy is divided into five main regions in which life as we know it can thrive; each divided from the other by great impassable Voids. (To get from one region to another, you have to either skim along the edge of the Storm Zone, do an "up-and-under" via the Galactic Energy Barrier, get transplanted from one place to another by some unexpected galactic phenomenon, or be the kind of exotic power that other species can only imagine... or dread.)

The Omega Octant is located across the far end of the Void located at the far end of the Inter-Stellar Concordium from the Federation. For most of SFU history, the two regions were isolated from one another; the first "true" contact (in that both sides would actually learn of the event) didn't take place until Y214, when the advanced technology survey cruiser USS Sakharov took a trip to Omega via the Lesser Magellanic Cloud.

What they found was a region of space that had seen great upheavals and changes, with ever-shifting borders and a vast array of strange-new worlds unlike anything found back home (or in the Cloud, for that matter). While the Mæsron Alliance*, a union of worlds founded by three mammalian species in Y19, rose to dominate Omega politics for several decades through the Pax Mæsra, the ambition of one of its founding species (the warlike Vulpa) eventually sparked a bitter Civil War, followed by a devastating Collapse.

Diving into the power vacuum, several rival Omega empires became superpowers in their own right, reducing the Alliance to its core holdings and setting the stage for several major wars to come. The Andromedans hit the Octant pretty hard, with their invasion set to succeed were it not for the success of Operation Unity; the surviving powers mustered enough forces to finish off the last Andromedan bastion in Omega through Operation Concerted Strike in Y204. The years following the invasion saw the slate wiped clean, with the Mæsrons entering a renaissance, their old rivals striving to secure their holdings, while newcomers emerging looking to shift the balance.

(You can get a look at Rick Smith's tune-up of the Omega faction logos at this link.)

In game terms, Omega (the brainchild of a certain Bruce Graw) has seen five published modules for Star Fleet Battles, as well as an Omega Master Rulebook consolidating the rule and background material from these five sources. In Federation Commander, there is the Omega Playtest Rulebook, as well as a handful of preview Ship Cards on the Omega Octant setting page linked to further up the page.

For the sake of disclosure, I am the author of the FC OPRB; though I have Rick Smith to thank for the outstanding graphical work that went into the file (and the playtest Omega Ship Cards). Of course, my role for Omega in FC has no direct relevance here; I have no claims to officialdom in how the settign may one day appear in ACtA:SF.

For that game's purposes, I have tried to follow FC's lead in terms of paring down the range of Omega empires on the SFB table (twenty-one and counting!) and arrange a portion of geographically-based rivalries to get things going. I started with the central power in the Omega setting (the aforementioned Mæsrons), the two superpowers to the "west" of the Alliance (the silicate Trobrin Empire and the salamander-like Probr Revolution), a set of Questing otter-like knights from a nearby extra-galactic cluster (the Iridani), and a small pocket of space that acts as a clearing-house of certain lost colonies from the Federation, Klingon Empire, and ISC (the Federal Republic of Aurora). This is similar to the original FC layout, where the "western front" of the Federation was shown along with the Klingons and Kzintis, before the "eastern front" with the Romulans and Gorns were added a bit later.

My hope was to use this template to try and frame a potential discussion here. The five empires I mention are among the more "normal" powers in Omega; with standard ship construction techniques, reasonably familiar weapons, yet enough new material added to the mix in order to make each act in their own way on the tabletop.

(Some of the more exotic powers in Omega really push the envelope; with an empire of robots flying super-intelligent computer ships, another species genetically adapting hollow space whales as living starships, yet another grafting biological "hull" segments onto the back plates of cloned Space Dragons, and a dark energy species from another dimension growing crystalline warships in their quest to drain our galaxy of all life! Yet, in order to get to those outliers, the base line would need to be set first.)

Of course, even if the Alpha Octant has enough time over the next few years to be properly fleshed out, there is no guarantee that any non-Alpha settings, such as Omega, would necessarily follow. Still, in the meantime, I was hoping that a thread like this one could help spark a little interest in that regard; and, perhaps, help show just how much one can do with the "indigenous" SFU that makes this setting so unique.

So, is there anyone else who would like to see what lies beyond the Void?

*The "ae" in both "Maesron" and "Maesra" is indeed supposed to be this grapheme.

Last edited by Nerroth on Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:45 pm, edited 9 times in total.

(Actually, fans of the Confederation of the Gorn might not feel too comfortable seeing who's firmly nestled themselves in the top-left corner of the Y210 Omega map...

But anyway.

First off, I figured it was best to start with the home away from home (from an Alpha Octant perspective), the Federal Republic of Aurora.

The Republic got its start in Y130, when the Federation colony world of Aurora III, along with its entire star system and all of its contents, was inexplicably transplanted to its current home in the Omega Octant. In later years, the Aurorans were joined by other lost colonies (The Klingon world Kraknora was brought over in Y171, adding the "Federal" to "Federal Republic of Aurora"; with the ISC colony of PX 123 following suit in Y178); as well as individual ships and other objects (such as a Lyran light cruiser which appeared in Y173).

The three main waves of Auroran starship construction was affected by these developments. The first wave of ships in the Auroran Navy were direct adaptation of the Terran-hull ships (CLs and POLs) which had been in-system (and which had support facilities located therein; a minor yard capable of building POLs, and a maintenance dock able to service CLs) at the time of the transferrance. The Aurorans reverse-engineered one of their POLs in order to develop their own frigate, jury-rigged their CL dock into an impromptu shipyard, and built a new cruiser type (the Armoured Cruiser, an expanded CL hull that was still slightly smaller than a true heavy cruiser) to get their new navy up and running. (An Orion element was added to the mix; the CR Throne of Ozymondas had been lurking under cloak in the system when it was dragged along for the ride; with nowhere else to turn, it became the Republic's eyes and ears, earning no small decree of acclaim in the process.)

The second wave came in the Y170s, when Klingon and Lyran technology became available to the FRA, and a new treaty with the Mæsron Alliance saw the latter provide key technical assistance in expanding the Auroran shipyard. The Aurorans were able to develop a hybrid destroyer design, as well as incorporate ESGs on a limited basis (on their carrier escorts only). Also, the expanded yard allowed them to build larger and more powerful designs, such as a true battlecruiser and a fearsome dreadnought.

The third wave came in the late Y180s, when the Aurorans and Mæsrons worked together to develop a fresh batch of "war" classes; however, these ship types have yet to be published in SFB, so will have to wait on the sidelines for the time being. (On a wider note, most of the current Omega Octant ship designs are boadly equivalent to the Middle Years designs seen in the Alpha Octant; while there is talk of a future Omega Warships module which would add several late-war hulls to a range of Omega empires, it hasn't been given the public green-light for publication at this point.)

So, in terms of what the FRA ships need to be converted over to ACtA:SF, there are weapons which they use that already exist in the game engine; phaser-1s, phaser-3s, photon torpedoes and disruptors (courtesy of the Klingons). Expanding sphere generators, inbound courtesy of the Lyrans, will be useful for Auroran escorts, at least after the ESG refits in Y177.

On the other hand, there are a few new weapon types which they would also need added. Along with standard photon torpedoes, the Aurorans developed light and heavy photon types; adding flexibility to their smaller ships and deadly stopping power to their dreadnoughts. They took a prototype anti-drone system (found in the cargo bay of the Throne of Ozymondas), found it was mostly useless in its current environment, and adapted it into the more hard-hitting short-range cannon. And later on, thanks to another deal with the Alliance, the reason why ADDs are of no use to the Auroran Navy (the tachyon missile, a large drone-like weapon which anti-drone targeting systems treat as shuttles, not as drones) became available in limited numbers to some of their later ships in place of SRC mounts.

The tachyon missile is not a crucial addition right away; it can wait until the Mæsrons get their turn in the spotlight (which, in my view, should be the next turn after this one). The other three might need to be covered here, though.

For the SRC, it can be done a couple of ways. One option was to give it a proper weapons stat; not least since, unlike anti-drones, SRCs have hemispheric firing arcs (so you can risk losing coverage on one flank or another if mounted on a cruiser):

*this would be a new rule, basically acting like Anti-Drone, but allowing the weapon to be fired at shuttles and teachyon missiles as well as drones.

On the other hand, SRCs could just be treated as a separate trait (akin to Anti-drone), but with specific arcs written directly into the trait. So, instead of Anti-Drone X, you would have Short-Range Cannon X (plus arc), Y (plus arc), etc.
Example: An FRA destroyer has a single SRC, facing in the forward hemispheric arc. So, it would have a trait of Short-Range Cannon 1 (FH).

There are a couple of odd tricks the Aurorans also have in SFB (shuttle bombs) which aren't currently in the FC playtest rules; but none of those are integral to the ships themselves, so could probably be left aside for the time being.

How does that sound so far?

Last edited by Nerroth on Sun Jun 24, 2012 6:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

Okay, here are a couple of sample ships, one from each wave of development that has been committed to print thus far.

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Altered-Scale Photon Torpedoes: Far from the guidelines and limitations laid down by Star Fleet, the Auroran Navy adapted to its new environment by increasing the flexibility of its vessels’ photon torpedo complements. Light photon warheads became common on FRA cruisers and smaller ships, while only the most massive units (such as the imposing dreadnought) could successfully integrate the powerful heavy photon torpedo mount. Light and heavy photon torpedoes act as standard photon torpedoes (including the ability to use the Overload Weapons! Special Action); however, while light photons have only Multihit 2 (compared to a standard photon's Multihit 4), heavy photons have no less than Multihit 6!

Short-Range Cannon: Modified from an experimental anti-drone system found stored in the cargo bay of the Throne of Ozymondas, the short-range cannon replaces the original anti-drone missiles with an energy-assisted explosive shell. It operates akin to an anti-drone, except that it may also target impacted tachyon missiles or suicide shuttles; however, it requires a score of 4 or more to destroy these larger targets (but will still only reduce its Attack Dice by 1 on the roll of a 1). Also, SRCs have more restricted firing arcs (typically FH, PH or SH); these are denoted on the mounting vessel's weapons charts. As with anti-drones, a ship using Scout functions may use short-range cannons on the same turn with no penalty.

Before the arrival of the Kraknora system (and Klingon technology) in Y171, the Auroran Navy did not field a destroyer; at the time, the class was deemed unnecessary for their purposes. However, after signing a new treaty with the Mæsron Alliance in Y172, the Aurorans were called upon to send ships to help patrol the New Alliance's shrunken borders (in exchange for protection from incursions by the local Superpowers). In this task, they quickly found that their cruisers were too valuable, and their frigates too small, for this new assignment. While several new designs were offered to the Senate's War Department, the winning solution came from a new hybrid destroyer build, constructed after one of the Klingon frigates which had arrived with Kraknora was reverse-engineered. The destroyer is an unorthodox design at first glance, with an F5's boom and engines mated to a stretched secondary hull from a Federal frigate. However, despite its unusual appearance, the high degree of flexibility found in this design allowed it to take on any manner of opponent wherever it might go in Mæsron space.

*So long as it has a Shields score above 0, an FRA Destroyer suffering an attack from within its Fore arc will have the number of hits it sustains halved, rounding up, with the exception of any hits that penetrate the shields. These are treated as normal.

TACHYON MISSILE VARIANT (DDT) +5 POINTS

Starting in Y181, the Federal Republic began installing tachyon missiles onto a number of their main line warships; though this never became a fleet-wide refit. This variant replaces the FH short-range cannon with a single tachyon missile launcher.

*This vessel may only launch its single Tachyon Missile Attack Die once every second turn.

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EDIT: I've added in the TM variant, as well as the Klingon shield rule (in order to account for the base hull's hybrid Fed-Klingon design).

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ARMOURED CRUISER - 170 POINTS (CLA)

First constructed at Aurora III's jury-rigged maintenance-dock-turned-shipyard in Y137, the Armoured Cruiser was the first attempt by the Republic to field a larger cruiser design. Based on a stretched CL hull, the Armoured Cruiser was the largest starship type the Aurorans were able to construct for several decades. It proved a capable design, able to hold its own against many Omega Octant cruisers, though had a slightly weaker photon torpedo complement compared to the Constitution-class heavy cruisers in service back in the Alpha Octant.

The above ship is a bit smaller than a true heavy cruiser, which is apt enough; though with the Terran cruisers given a precedent of not carrying their armour over to ACtA:SF, it is a tiny bit more fragile this time around.

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So, how are these so far?

Last edited by Nerroth on Tue Aug 07, 2012 9:32 pm, edited 21 times in total.

Couple of interesting ships I like them especially since they are not filled with drones which seems to be where the main galaxy seemed to go

The Armoured Cruiser (does it have a class name?)
Phaser III range should be 6 Unless its a longer ranged version?
otherwise seems pretty balanced

The Destroyer (same question re class name)
Sounds a really odd looking ship!
5 Phaser I's is too much for a 120pt ship I feel more like 130/140pts
Interestingly the Klingon shields would suit it more as its a proper attack ship with most guns facing forwards - almost Centauri like

I screwed up the phaser-3 entries in the first pass; they should be fixed now.

I am still a bit unsure as to how to handle the point value conversions; if the DD needs to be more expensive, that might be fair enough, though i'm not sure by what amount. EDIT: I upped it to 130 for now.

As far as the Klingon shield goes, it seems that only the Klingon cruisers have a reduced Shield score (relative to what they would be without the forward shield rule); the F5's shield score seems to be the same either way. So, if this ship got that rule, what should the adjusted Shield value be?

Oh, and for now, none of the Auroran ships have explicit class names listed; I would like to see something done about that at some point, but right now I have to leave them as they are.

As for class names, it's one thing for me to try and convert rules and stats that already exist in print; it would be another to try and add background details without prior consent. (At some point, I imagine there will be official class names assigned; but it's up to ADB to approve them.) So, for now, I want to leave them unassigned, until and unless the chance is taken to have class names officially designated.

So, in order to give the Auroran ships above something local to fight with (or against), this is the first take on what I had in mind for the Mæsron Alliance.

(Turns out I can use the "æ" here after all!)

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As noted in the opening post of this thread, the Mæsrons have been the most prominent players upon the Omega Octant stage. First formed in Y19 when the humanoid Tazol, bat-like Wallimi and lupine Vulpa first agreed to shape a common destiny, the Alliance expanded to incoporate many new species into the fold; however, none of the new members would have the same impact as the "big three". (There is no Mæsron species; the Alliance is a union of many worlds, like the Federation and ISC.)

For a time, the Alliance held firm, as its members worked together in peacetime (and fought together in the First Great War; a conflict in which the Mæsrons took on their three most powerful rivals and won). Regrettably, Vulpa ambitions proved to be too strong to ignore, and a "palace coup" saw a self-declared Vulpa Emperor seek to turn the Alliance into the Mæsron Empire.

Eventually, the Tazol and Wallimi had had enough of this, and rose to restore the power of the Grand Council; the resulting Civil War proved devastating to the Mæsrons, not least since it precipitated the Collapse; a stampede for the bulk of Mæsron-held territory by its ravenous neighbours and rivals. With help from the Aurorans, the Tazol-Wallimi "New Alliance" won the Civil War, blamed the Vulpa for all past transgressions, and attempted to impose a strict neutrality between the emerging blocs of Superpowers that surrounded what remained of Mæsron territory.

Inevitably, the New Alliance found itself faced with fresh waves of conflict; with two insurgent efforts by Vulpa nationalists, an external invasion dragging the Mæsrons into the Second Great War, and the devastating effects of the Andromedan invasion threatening to leave the entire Octant staring into the abyss.

When the extra-galactic storm passed, the New Alliance was able to launch into a Renaissance which defined the new era. However, as the Mæsrons re-emerged as a great power in their own right, they were obliged to negotiate the threat of a bold new neighbour in the Vulpa Confederacy; the former co-founders having exploited the power vacuum left by the Invasions to finally stake a claim to empire in their own right.

(You can see a pic showing several Alliance member species here; plus another image offering a top-down view of a Mæsron frigate.)

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Due to their central role in Omega geography (and history), the Mæsron fleet tends to serve as the benchmark for the Octant. Also, in terms of technology, their systems are as close to an Omega "standard" as can be found; their wide-angle phasers are the most commonly-used phaser types in Omega, while their tachyon missiles are the most widespread seeking weapons on offer. Plus, their civilian ships are the ones most commonly "borrowed" by other empires, though not all of these exchanges have been willing ones.

(This should not be overstated, however. There are almost two dozen published empires in SFB for the Omega Octant, and only a relative handful of each have even one weapon system that is shared by another. There is far more diversity in technology in this corner of the galaxy than one would find back in the Alpha Octant.)

In terms of new weapons that the Mæsrons would need in ACtA:SF, there are only three (well, technically four) that need to be worked out; Wide-angle phasers-1 and -3, tachyon guns and tachyon missiles.

This is what I have so far for each:

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Wide-Angle Phasers: The most common phaser type in the Omega Octant, wide-angle phasers were pioneered by the Mæsron Alliance and later adopted by a number of other powers, including the Iridani Questors. Wide-angle phasers come in two ship-mounted flavours; phasers-W1 (akin to Alpha Octant phasers-1) and phasers-W3 (a counterpart to the Phaser-3). Wide-angle phasers are designed to spread their damage more evenly than Alpha Octant phasers; they have a shorter range (due to slightly increased energy dissipation) and have a slightly lower maximum amount of damage they can score; however, they are more consistent in the spread of damage they can inflict upon their targets. Ships using Scout functions may only fire Phasers-W1 defensively; Phasers-W3 can be fired with no penalty.

Tachyon Gun: Used as the primary heavy weapon of the Mæsron Alliance, tachyon guns are powerful and highly accurate direct-fire weapons, albeit with considerable power demands at its higher arming levels. It possesses a “pseudo-overload” ability, in that it can be given additional power to produce an even higher punch at very close range; however, this additional power has to come from somewhere. It may use the Overload Weapons! Special Action to double its Multihit scores; however, it can only benefit if the target is within 3 inches of the firing ship (rather than 6 inches for a photon or disruptor).

Tachyon Missiles: Tachyon missiles are large drone-like weapons; powerful, but in more limited supply in combat than their Alpha Octant counterparts. Each Attack Die shown in the weapons trait reflects the number of missiles that ship can launch in a given turn; typically one for each pair of racks present. In some cases, a ship may have an odd number of racks (or only one rack to begin with). In this case, the “odd” (or lone) rack is represented by a separate line, with a note stating this Attack Die can be fired only once every second turn. Also, due to the time it takes for their tracking systems to acquire a lock on, tachyon missiles cannot be launched at a target less than four inches from the launching ship. However, due to the missiles’ size and durability, each requires two successful phaser hits from Defensive Fire to be destroyed (but will still be nullified by a single drone launched as defensive fire), is immune to anti-drone fire (but not short-range cannon fire), and needs a Crew Quality check of 9 or more to be neutralised via a tractor beam.

As with drones, ships using Scout functions may launch tachyon missiles with no penalty; however, jamming will reduce only 1 tachyon missile Attack Die per Scout function used, as opposed to 2 Attack Dice per function that affects drones. As with drones, no more than three ships may target a single enemy ship with tachyon missiles in the same turn; Scout ships may use Drone Control (or, in this case, Tachyon Missile Control) to attack a Scouting Target with its tachyon missiles, even if the enemy has been attacked by three other ships firing tachyon missiles. Only one Scout ship can do this against any one target. Tachyon missiles may be used in conjunction with the Escort Trait.

Wide-angle phasers are shorter-ranged than their Alpha Octant phaser counterparts, but have a wider range in which they can do more damage. Tachyon guns could gain the same Devastating +1 trait as photons, but the increased accuracy should make up for its absence. The missiles are not meant to be relied upon too heavily, as the following ship samples may show:

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Mæsron Initiative: +0

Mæsron Fleet List:

Destroyer (DD) 120 points
Heavy Cruiser (CA) 180 points

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DESTROYER - 120 POINTS (DD)

The Mæsron destroyer has a long pedigree; dating from Y49, this class fought during the Great War, helped enforce the Pax Mæsra, and bore witness to the trauma of the Civil War. With the same aft platform as the heavy cruiser, the construction of both classes was made that much more efficient, which reinforced the fleets of the Alliance in its ascendance – and kept the New Alliance alive in the wake of the Collapse.

One of the mainstays of the Alliance since its introduction in Y51, the heavy cruiser shared a “floating” aft weapon platform with several other Mæsron designs, not least the dreadnought and light cruiser. It also served as the basis for a number of later variants. This was the ship which won the Great War, showing the accomplishments the Alliance could achieve when it had a common purpose. Sadly, its presence on both sides of the Civil War showed how far the Mæsrons could fall when that partnership was rent asunder.

In the wake of the Collapse, the New Alliance was no longer the immense industrial powerhouse it had once been. While the Mæsrons had once been able to quickly bounce back from the loss of a fleet, they were now faced with the need to lean more heavily on the use of attrition units in order to minimize losses. One example of this shift is the bombardment cruiser; first fielded in Y175, designed to provide additional tachyon missile options to a squadron or fleet.

This variant replaces all four Attack Dice of Tachyon Guns with two additional Attack Dice of Tachyon Missiles.

FIRE SUPPORT CRUISER VARIANT (CAF) +0 POINTS

This is actually a variant of the “floating” firing platform more than a variant of the ship itself. One of the Vulpa construction yards experimented with this version in Y156, during the Mæsron Civil War; using the extra phasers to counter enemy tachyon missiles. The probe launcher, seen as useless by the belligerent Vulpa, was replaced with a tachyon missile rack.

This variant replaces the two F arc Attack Dice of Tachyon Guns with 2 AD of Phaser-W1s, adds 1 AD of Tachyon Missiles (that forms a separate weapon system; which may only fire once every second turn), and has the Probe 0 Trait.

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The missile thing might seem a bit awkward, but the limitations are part of the point; Mæsron fleets are not supposed to overly benefit from going too missile-heavy. (While there are missile variants available in the SFB Mæsron fleet, even they have their own limits.) Still, at least one should be able to get a little bit more out of each missile they do have, in the right circumstances at least.

(And speaking of missiles, i've gone back and added the missile-variant Destroyer to the FRA post.)

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So, how does V1.6 of these unoffical Mæsron rules look to you?

Last edited by Nerroth on Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:41 pm, edited 12 times in total.

The idea is that the Trait shows the number of missiles the ship has in its racks overall; the weapon stat shows how many racks there are to fire the missiles from.

(While Slow-Loading could be an option, and would actually be something i'd consider for a weapon out in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, the issue here is the cap on the number of missiles a Mæsron commodore would be able to have his squadron launch in a given turn. While it might result in the same number of overall launches, more or less, over the course of a battle, being able to put so many TMs into play at the one time might be a bit more of an option than they are supposed to be.)

Missiles aside, do the wide-angle phasers and tachyon guns look okay, or are there any issues with the way they are shown so far?

(The Phaser-Ws should come up again with the next empire I'd want to try and work on, the Iridani Questors; though their use of them is somewhat different to that of the Alliance.)

Well, here's a thought; what if the ships with an even number of racks had their AD halved, while ships with a single rack (like the Auroran DDT) were given the Slow-Firing Trait?

(Certain ships with uneven numbers of racks could then have them divided into two lines; one for the "odd" Slow-Loading rack, the other with the remainder rounded down.)

I guess another question would be; how many turns is a player likely to need to play the game? If a Mæsron CA was set up to only launch one of its six missiles a turn anyway, would the game end before you'd have to worry about whether or not you're going over the limit?

So, time for the third Omega power I wanted to look at; the Iridani Questors.

An otter-like species native to a globular cluster beyond the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, the Iridani are a short-lived species who fully intend to live their lives to the fullest. Even so, at no point is their fun allowed to impinge on their honour, which the feudalistic Iridani nobles declare to be sacred.

Usually, Iridani ships are encountered while on solo Quests into the Omega Octant. A knight, upon achieving his position, would be given a ship (of a size dependent on his family's relative wealth and influence) and sent on a Quest. The specifics of an individual Quest could vary widely (to explore a new region, slay a space monster, serve alongside a foreign military, offer assistance to colonies in distress, and so forth); but in each case, a knight was only permitted to return home once his Quest was completed. That said, there are larger Quests seen on occasion; the largest involving a high-ranking Duke leading an entire fleet into the fray.

Given its distance from the Galactic Rim, and its state of relative internal solidarity, the Throne Planet of Iridia was considered to be secure from external threats; thus the Iridani left the home Cluster in a relatively under-defended state, the bulk of their naval assets deployed to the Milky Way. This weakness was brutally exposed in Y193, when the Andromedans used their expertise at galaxy-hopping to conquer the Throne Planet itself. However, the Andromedans failed to account for the sheer numbers (and tenacity) of the surviving Questors; who rallied to liberate their homes in the Grand Quest of Y195-97. After this victorious campaign, the Iridani launched a series of Crusade Quests into the galaxy, tasked with hunting down the Andromedans wherever they may be found; while the Cluster itself saw major new fortifications installed, to ensure that never again would the Throne Planet be in danger. The damage done by the occupation was significant, however; the new Iridani shipyard would not be made fully operational until Y208.

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On the tabletop, Iridani ship designs and tactics harken back to the Throne Planet's Age of Sail; with banners, pendants and other ornaments proudly blazoned upon their vessels, despite their being no wind in space for the banners to fly in...

More importantly, the weapon suites are perhaps closer to those used by the human fleets in A Call to Arms: Noble Armada, rather than the range of empires offered in ACtA:SF thus far. Iridani heavy weapons are predicated on the broad-side; with sponsons allowing the same weapons to be fired in both the port and starboard arcs. This should strongly encourage the use of line abreast and line astern formations; crossing the "T" would be encouraged! (There was a very limited run of "Bonnaventure" variants, which attempted to demonstrate the worth of more forward-oriented firing arcs; however, these were considered to be failures, and were not widely adopted.)

Weapons-wise, they use the same phaser-Ws as the Alliance, as well as focused energy beams (which have a phaser-like to-hit table in SFB and FC) and a target illuminator (a system that provides a to-hit bonus for the operating ship at the instant of firing). They have no seeking weapons (other then suicide shuttles).

Another key feature is the heavy use of modules; not entirely different from the philosophy behind the Romulan SparrowHawks. All Iridani hulls of destroyer size and up can mount at least one module type; the larger units can mount two, three, or even four modules. Since the Iridani (unlike the Romulans) can mount (almost) any combination of modules they wish, their ships have a virtually unparalleled degree of variety.

The way this works is different in SFB and in FC, mind you. In SFB, you can pick and choose your modules yourself; this PDF of the limited-run Bonnaventure ships shows how the Iridani SSDs are laid out. (There are many module types available; the ones on these SSDs are the most commonly-operated on solo Quests.) In FC, however, the choice is abstracted out; this playtest Ship Card for the Caravel has the Weapons Module pre-installed. The ides there is that any variants needed later on can simply be offered as "new" Ship Cards, with the appropriate modules plugged in, ready to go. (Of the two options, I'd go with the latter here; it works already for the SparrowHawks, after all.)

You can see how all of this fits together in the art which Rick Smith did up for the Galleon and Caravel.

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Alright, so here is what I have for v1 of the Iridani rules.

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Focused Energy Beams: Focused energy beams were devised by for use on Iridani Quest ships, after the first data gathered from the Milky Way Galaxy (and successfully returned to the home Cluster) reported on the heavy weapons operated by the local empires. The sole heavy weapon of Iridani ships of the line, this weapon focuses energy from the ship’s power grid and releases it into a powerful energy beam.
Target Illuminators: A system operated by the vessels of the Iridani Questors, the target illuminator was designed as a means of maximizing the effectiveness of a Quest ship’s direct-fire weaponry; attempts to capture and duplicate this technology by other empires failed because target illuminators are tied into the unique Iridani fire control systems.. It does this by focusing a beam of low-intensity radiation upon a target unit, which allows the targeting vessel to increase its weapons’ accuracy at the instant of firing. Each Attack Die available for a given illuminator may be used to “mark” a target vessel within the system’s firing arc; no target may be “marked” by more than one AD from a single ship in the same turn. There is no damage scored by TI; instead, a successful “marking” adds a +1 to any wide-angle phaser or focused energy beam fire fired by the “marking” unit in the same Attack Phase. Illuminators only affect the rolls from the operating ship; allied ships receive no benefit.
Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Focused Energy Beam 16 Varies Varies Accurate +1, Multihit 3
Target Illuminator - Varies Varies Accurate +2

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Iridani Initiative: +1

Iridani Fleet List:

Caravel (CR) 130 points
Galleon (GL) 200 points

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CARAVEL - 130 POINTS (CR)

First entering service in Y63, the Caravel was the smallest starship type the Iridani could field that was capable of mounting a full-sized module. Even so, the modular capability it did possess allowed this destroyer-sized vessel to fulfil many different Quests; be they sent on solo missions or attached to larger Quest fleets. The version presented here assumes the presence of a single Weapons Module.

Since its introduction in Y82, the venerable Galleon has been a mainstay for the Iridani Questors. The options provided by its two modules made it one of the most versatile cruiser hulls in known space. Many configurations can be found; the one presented here includes a single VIP Module (used to provide enough comfort for an Iridani noble to comfortably comport himself on a long Quest, and to host dignitaries from realms the ship visited during its course) and a lone Weapons Module.

Plasma is handled somewhat differently in the Omega Octant than over in Alpha. No one empire uses the exact same types of plasma torps as the Romulans, Gorns or ISC; and the plasma-like seeking weapons that are found in Omega can be quite varied from one operating empire to another.

A good example of this is seen with the ships of the Probr Revolution. Probr warships use high-energy acceptance torpedoes, which are somewhat akin to plasma-Gs in terms of performance, with two major exceptions. One is that each HEAT is more resistant to phaser fire than an equivalent Alpha plasma torp. Another is the interaction with the Target Accentuator system; which can allow a specially-prepared HEAT to travel towards a suitably "marked" target at Warp 4 (or Speed 64 in FC and SFB terms). HEAT launchers come in only one flavour, the ability to prep two warhead types notwithstanding; bigger Probr ships rely on larger numbers of HEATs (accentuated or otherwise) to carry the day.

The Probr themselves are a salamander-like species, which had once been subject to a series of genetic experiements by a now-dead precursor species now known only as THEM. The emergence of Probr sentience was not part of the scheduled programming; nor was the subsequent Revolution, which saw the enraged Probr exterminate their former tormentors. Despite this bloody past, the modern-day Probr are, by and large, a fairly reasonable lot; they aren't afraid to get stuck in if necessary, but nor are they the most overtly warlike power in the Octant either.

Their ships are designed around the need to keep costs as low as possible; the Probr economy is shaky at best. (Theirs is not the only lizard fleet with money issues.) They build their ships in sections, with small, medium or large wing sections attached to one or more central hull segments. Despite this erector-set template, the resulting ships are not modular; the pieces aren't intended to be taken apart and re-assembled the way the Iridani can with the modules mounted in their Quest ships.

If you want to see an example of Probr starship design, there is a sample PDF of the Accentuation Cruiser (a fleet support variant of the Heavy Cruiser) available online.

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So, here is what I have so far.

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High-Energy Acceptance Torpedoes: These plasma torpedo-esque seeking weapons (known as HEATs for short) are both highly resistant to damage, as well as capable of being prepared with “accentuated” warheads that can travel as a blistering Warp 4 towards their targets. Incoming phaser hits against HEAT torpedoes reduce the warhead strength by one Attack Die for every two successful hits. In addition, if launched in an “accentuated” mode, the warhead’s strength at launch is reduced by 1 Attack Die, but the Range value is doubled; however, the target must be “painted” by a friendly target accentuator in order to allow this. Unlike Alpha Octant plasma torpedoes, HEATs have no bolt or carronade function.

Unlike most other plasma-esque torpedoes, HEATs require the same kind of active seeking weapon control from their launching ship as drones do; thus, no more than three ships may target a single enemy ship with HEATs (of either calibre) in the same turn. Note that since Scout ships cannot launch HEATs when using Scout functions, they cannot use an equivalent of Drone Control (or, in this case, HEAT Control) to attack a Scouting Target with its HEATs, if it foregoes its Scout operations to fire HEATs, it still counts as one of the three ships firing HEATs at that target in the same turn, with no additional benefit.

Quantum Phasers: Trading in stopping power for range, quantum phasers carpet the immediate area surrounding the target’s location with multiple quantum beams. As a result, a ship targeted by quantum phasers gains no benefit from the Take Evasive Action! Special Action (against quantum phaser damage only; other incoming fire is still affected normally); while ships with the Stealth X Trait subtract 1 from their Stealth rating against incoming quantum phaser fire (but, again, not against other incoming fire, which is also still affected normally). Ships using Scout functions may only fire Phasers-Q1 and Phasers-Q2 defensively; Phasers-Q3 can be fired with no penalty.

Target Accentuators: Target accentuators do no damage directly; rather, they “paint” the target ship in a manner which allows for specially-prepared high-energy acceptance torpedoes to travel twice as quickly towards their targets. If a Probr player successfully manages to “paint” a target ship with a target accentuator, he may choose to launch any HEAT torpedoes (be they from the “painting” ship, or from an allied Probr ship which has yet to launch any torpedoes in the same turn) in an “accentuated” mode, as detailed in the HEAT rule entry.

The quantum phasers have longer range than equivalent Alpha Octant phasers, but smaller Kill Zones; though the special rules make it harder to avoid the damage they can score at range. HEATs can see their range doubled when fired at a "painted" target, but drop to 2 AD at launch; and have a stronger resistance to phaser fire added in, too. TAs are handy, in that only one ship need "paint" a certain target for all subsequent HEAT launches in the same turn to benefit; but the myopic zone should highlight the fact that the Probr want to engage at medium range if at all possible.

Formed by merging two standardized hull sections with a pair of medium-sized wings, the Steel entered service in Y59 and served as the mainstay of the Probr navy for over a century. Its relative ease of construction, as much (if not more) than its combat capabilities, kept the Revolution alive during its decades of service.
Ships of the Class:Portala.
Turn: 4Shields: 24Damage: 32/11Marines: 5Craft: 4 ShuttlesTraits: Agile, Labs 4, Probes 2, Quick Launch, Tractor Beam 4, Transporter 4

This unusual design reversed the normal HEAT/TA ratio, providing four Target Accentuators and two HEATs. Its main purpose was to concentrate Target Accentuators on a target in order to allow supporting warships to salvo their torpedoes in its direction. With ships of this type available, long-range attrition battles became easier and attacks on multiple enemy units in quick succession were more likely. As it was never intended to move close to a target, it was armed with Quantum Phasers-2 for extra long-range firepower.

One thing you may see from the first two sample ships is the difference in arcs between the HEATs and TAs. While the HEATs have Gorn-like PH/SH arcs, the TAs are stuck in the F arc; which means at least one ship would have to keep its target in the front arc in order to "paint" it.

This is where the accentuation variants would come in. As the Ship Card linked to above demonstrates, the CAA swaps the HEAT and TA mounts around; giving the Accentuation Cruiser two PH and two SH TAs and two F arc HEATs. (It also goes more heavily in for Phaser-Q2 fire; this is to help target attrition units in FC and SFB, but that comes across less cleanly here.) The presence of such a ship can act as a force multiplier for a Probr fleet, giving it more options in terms of how it lines itself up for its key ranged strikes.

EDIT: I've added in the CAA; this unit should help anyone wanting to test how the accentuation variants help the Probr in larger squadron and fleet actions.

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After the Probr, there is one other faction from the Omega Playtest Rulebook I wanted to turn to; but before I try and tackle the Trobrin Empire, how are things looking with the four sample forces worked up so far?

Last edited by Nerroth on Thu Aug 09, 2012 4:42 pm, edited 6 times in total.